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Activation tests

The Activation test type performs basic operations on a test site with your plugin activated. It simulates essential workflows that a merchant might perform, ensuring your plugin behaves correctly throughout the entire process, from activation to order placement and deactivation.

Operations performed​

  • Log in as admin
  • Activate any dependencies that your plugin has (e.g., WooCommerce)
  • Activate your plugin
  • Visit and take screenshots of any pages added by your plugin to the wp-admin menu
  • Enable Cash on Delivery payment method
  • Enable Local Pickup shipping method
  • Create a product
  • Create an order
  • Add a product to cart
  • Place an order as a guest
  • Deactivate your plugin

Test outcomes​

The status of the test is determined by the following:

  • Success: All flows were completed, and no PHP notices, warnings, or errors were triggered.
  • Warning: All flows were completed, but a non-fatal PHP error was triggered.
  • Failed: One of the flows failed, or a fatal PHP error was triggered.

Configurable options​

You can tweak several parameters in the Activation Test, such as WordPress, WooCommerce, and PHP versions. To see all available options, run:

qit run:activation --help

This command displays a list of configurable parameters, enabling you to test under various conditions.

Skipping visited pages​

If you want the Activation test to skip specific pages added by your plugin, add a qit.json file to your plugin's root directory (the same directory as your plugin entrypoint) with the following content:

{
  "activation": {
    "skipVisitPages": [
      "wp-admin/admin.php?page=skip-visiting-this"
    ]
  }
}
  • Automatic page discovery: By default, the test suite visits all pages accessible from the WordPress admin sidebar menu that are added by your plugin.
  • Skipvisitpages array: The skipVisitPages array specifies the URLs of pages you want to exclude from visits during the tests.
  • Substring matching: The skipping mechanism is substring-based. If any part of a page's URL contains a string listed in skipVisitPages, that page will not be visited.

For example, if you include wp-admin/admin.php?page=skip-visiting-this in the array, any admin page URL containing that substring will be skipped.

Visiting a specific page​

You can also define specific pages to be visited that might not be visible from the sidebar menu. This uses a slightly different syntax, as it takes a page title and a URL. It only accepts relative URLs.

{
  "activation": {
    "visitPages": {
      "Visit This": "wp-admin/admin.php?page=do-visit-this"
    }
  }
}

Running the activation test​

Run the activation test with:

qit run:activation your-extension

Replace your-extension with the slug of your plugin.

Using a tunnel​

Some plugins might need an actual live site URL to work properly, such as payment gateways and SaaS. For those, you can use our built-in tunnel feature to test these plugins.

Canonical compatibility check in the WooCommerce Marketplace​

The WooCommerce Marketplace will automatically run an activation test using the compatibility extension set upon new submission or update. You will see the results in the list of tests under Activation (canonical compatibility check). Currently this test is informational only, and will not block a submission or an update.

What to do if it fails​

If your Activation test fails:

  • Open the test report to review logs and identify the root cause.
  • Identify the causes of failure. The test will log PHP notices, warnings, and errors that happens when activating your plugin.
  • Reproduce the issue locally and fix it in your code.
  • If you believe the result is incorrect, please email us at qit@woocommerce.com for further assistance.